Aztecs' White has 'monster' evening

San Diego State's most effective play last night was patiently working the ball around the perimeter against the Fresno State zone and jacking up a three- pointer. And missing badly.

And then having Billy White snag the offensive rebound and score.

It happened three times in the final three minutes - twice on air balls - and it proved to be the difference in a gritty 62-58 win against Fresno State before 8,041 at the Save Mart Center.

Memo to Pacific, which hosts the Aztecs tomorrow night: You might want to block out No. 32.

White had two points and three rebounds at halftime. He finished with 22 points and eight rebounds, including six on the offensive end. Twelve of his second- half points came after SDSU offensive rebounds.

"Billy's a monster," said guard D.J. Gay, who had more than a few of his 10 misses vacuumed up by White's endless arms. "He definitely stepped up and put the team on his back and carried us."

The score was knotted at 56 when SDSU coach Steve Fisher called a timeout with 44 seconds left and diagrammed a play. It was supposed to go to Kawhi Leonard at the top of the key, but the screen came late and Leonard wasn't open. So Gay dribbled to his right and, with the shot clock expiring, went to the old standby.

He jacked up a deep three. And missed badly.

White was there on the left block to corral it, just as he was when Tyrone Shelley and Leonard air-balled threes on consecutive possessions a few minutes earlier. White was fouled and made both free throws {PI:85} impressive because of the juncture of the game and also because 10 days ago he had a splint on his left (shooting) wrist. Last night he was 6-for-6 from the line.

After Fresno State guard Mike Ladd missed a runner that would have tied it, and Shelley (17 points) made two free throws to seal the Aztecs' first road win of the season.

"Fortunately, the balls kept going to my side," White said. "I think they were trying to block me out, but I got around them. I just kept saying, `It's my rebound.' "

White wasn't alone. The Aztecs (3-1) finished with 15 offensive rebounds, nine coming in the second half. Of the last six three-pointers that the Aztecs missed, they got the offensive rebound on all six. It's not supposed to work that way.

"We have to get a body on a man," said Bulldogs coach Steve Cleveland, who had six freshmen or sophomores in his seven-man rotation. "This was a team that beat us by (24 points) last year. They just drilled us. So I'm pleased with the improvement. We were three or four offensive rebounds from winning this game.

w "It was that close."

The positive for the Aztecs, of course, was that they won a close game on the road in a traditionally tough place to play despite a marginal shooting performance.

The negative was their marginal shooting performance. Fresno State (2-2) packed in a 2-3 zone most of the evening and was content to let the Aztecs fire away. They were 7-of-25 behind the arc, and just 3-of-18 after a hot start.

"After that performance, I'm guessing so," Gay said when asked if he expects more teams to play zone. "Anyone watching that game knows we kind of struggled against the zone. It's something we're definitely going to have to work on." Mark Zeigler: (619) 293-2205; mark.zeigler@uniontrib.com